Artist, Researcher, Teacher: A Study of Professional Identity in Art and Education

Artist, Researcher, Teacher: A Study of Professional Identity in Art and Education

Alan Thornton

Language: English

Pages: 158

ISBN: 1841506443

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub

Artist, Researcher, Teacher explores the relationship of three professional identities that often intersect in the lives of art practitioners, educators, and students.

Challenging conventional wisdom about specialization and professional identity, Alan Thornton shows that many individuals have complex, varied, and evolving relationships with visual art—relationships that do not fit into any single category. Against the backdrop of an expanding research culture and current employment models in the United States and the United Kingdom— where many artists also work as teachers—he argues for the necessity of a theory that both reflects and influences practice in the realm of art and art-related work. A great resource for those whose professional or creative lives encompass multiple aspects of art, research, and education, Artist, Researcher, Teacher will also provide fresh insights for those interested in identity formation and professional roles and practices. By elucidating our current situation, it opens the door to much-needed new approaches.

Implications for continued research include study of other ethnic, age group, and subject matter teaching and learning rhythms. The translation process may be of interest to the gifted/talented field. (Wolfe, 1995: xiii) Although the thesis refers to art education in the United States, some of the issues that emerge can be related to notions of the artist teacher in the United Kingdom also. Wolfe refers to the artist teacher, who is central to this study, as KC, this abbreviation continues to be

present in the world and appear to have a lineage that stretches back into prehistory; • have motivations and convictions based upon their art practice and exposure to the culture of art. They may also have maternal or paternal drives that make them amenable to supporting the nurturing of children or other needful individuals and/or a philosophical belief in the value of education; • are often influenced by notions of artistic autonomy derived from a historical trend considered to have come to

conceptual and cultural differences. Also the dual identities that follow will provide information and insights that I hope develop the overall theme of this book and show important links with the conceptual model of the artist teacher presented here. Daichendt, in his book Artist Teacher referring to the education system in the United States, redefines the term in a way I believe acknowledges the fluidity of identities in the field of art education: Despite the all-encompassing categories of art

cultural force through personal holistic endeavours. The initial identities of artist, researcher and teacher are based on actual practitioners but are also constructs or categories that represent the differentiation of practices and beliefs. In this understanding people both shape categories and are shaped by them. I utilise a simple concept/phenomenon to represent the three professional identities of the title, which in themselves are presented as important different tendencies of artistic